Where did you grow up, and where are you based now?

I was born and raised in Bangalore, though I am natively from the north. I completed my schooling at Greenwood High School and NPS Koramangala in Bangalore. Now, I live on campus in Mumbai and have spent the last four years exploring the city. Going forward, I have no idea where I will be based and am excited to see where I end up.

What's your educational background, and what were your previous work experiences before joining Prodigal?

I did my 12th during Covid and had grown very tired of the engineering syllabus by the end of JEE Advance and wanted to try something new in college. So while choosing a branch, I found a relatively new degree at IIT Bombay: Bachelor of Science, Economics. I have enjoyed the degree and it has been an interesting mix of mathematics, economics and social sciences. I have done a few internships throughout my college but the most recent one was at McKinsey as a Business Analyst where I worked with an IT Services company. The work was pretty interesting and I identified a few areas where we could improve pricing. 

What attracted you to join Prodigal, and how has your role evolved since you started?

I was not particularly looking for an internship in my final year, but when I saw Sumanyu’s (a college senior) post calling for Product Interns, I filled it the form. I always wanted to try out product management and working at a startup. I was extremely excited to get started and liked the hybrid model. Within the first week, I realised that the most exciting part was the team and learning from them everyday. Sumanyu was incredibly patient and guided me really well. After three months, I wanted to try something new and started working with Bharat in the Finance and People functions. Here, I recreated our Careers Page, led internship hirings, created Humans of Prodigals for lots of teammates, and helped with the pricing of ProPay and competitive landscape for ProAgent. It was lots of fun, helped me meet more people at Prodigal and appreciate the business in greater depth.

Can you share a significant project or achievement you're proud of during your time here?

I think one of the projects which was most helpful to Prodigal was creating a documentation of the “Prodigal Data Model”, which was essentially lots of internal tables that we use to capture customer information in a uniform manner. It also helped me understand the details of Prodigal’s technical edge in this industry and the comprehensive documentation helped the engineering team improve their productivity.

What are your favorite hobbies or activities outside of work?

I’m a huge football fan. I play lots of football. I’m a midfielder and my favourite club is Barcelona. Everyone in Prodigal will know that I am extremely passionate about representing Hostel 2 at the inter-hostel Football Championship (GC). Outside of that, I am an outdoors guy so I love going on walks in nature, swimming and cycling.

Do you have any personal projects or passions you're currently pursuing?

In the last two years, I have become super involved with sustainability in college. I lead the Sustainability Cell and we work closely with students and the administration to reduce wastage on campus. A lot of my time goes into managing the 23-member team, ideating new technologies we can add to reduce resource usage and achieve globally recognized sustainability certifications for IITB. The most exciting part of this project is the chance to meet lots of IITB alumni, ranging from Nandan Nilekani’s wingies to 2020 graduates who are enthusiastic about giving back.

Which of Prodigal's values resonates with you the most, and why?

My favourite Prodigal value is ‘Radical Candor’. It could be coming from a naive place, but I am most comfortable when I can communicate the goods and bads with my teammates so that we can constructively move ahead. I think this quality has helped me grow not just in my work, but as an individual. The team has given me some great feedback, often with no sugar coating and I have also been empowered to stand my ground on certain ideas I believe in. Overall, I think it encourages a culture of transparency, honesty and excellence which I really like.

Is there an interesting fact about yourself that your colleagues might not know?

I’m a huge animal lover, especially stray animals. Our neighbours and us adopted a beautiful indie stray dog when I was 14 and that kickstarted my active involvement with animals. Anywhere I see an animal, I will always stop and try to play with them!